Skill: cut-scope

Skill: cut-scope

Purpose

Analyze what can be deferred from a release without compromising its core value — and communicate those decisions clearly to stakeholders.

When to Use

• Timeline is at risk and scope must be reduced
• Capacity is less than originally planned
• A blocker makes full delivery impossible

Framework: Scope Cut Decision

Principle

"Cut scope, not corners. Never sacrifice quality to ship more. Ship less, ship well."

Step 1 — Gather Current State

Ask for:

• Full list of items in scope
• Current MoSCoW classification
• Days/sprints remaining
• Current velocity vs planned velocity

Step 2 — Scope Cut Criteria

Evaluate each item against:

Criterion	Question
User Impact	How many users does this affect? How severely?
Business Commitment	Is this promised to a customer, partner, or contractually required?
Technical Dependency	Does another Must Have depend on this?
Effort Remaining	How much work is left? Is it 20% or 80% done?
Deferability	Can it ship in the next release without significant rework?

Step 3 — Cut Decision Table

Item	MoSCoW	% Done	User Impact	Deferrable?	Decision	Reason
Feature A	Must	90%	High	No	✅ Keep	Nearly done, committed
Feature B	Should	30%	Medium	Yes	✂️ Cut	Low completion, high effort
Feature C	Could	10%	Low	Yes	✂️ Cut	Not started, defers cleanly
Feature D	Must	60%	High	No	⚠️ Escalate	Committed but at risk

Step 4 — Scope Cut Statement (Stakeholder Communication)

"To protect the quality and timeline of [Release Name], we are deferring [Feature B] and [Feature C] to [Next Release]. These items are [X% complete / not started] and their deferral does not affect [core user flow / contractual commitments]. The remaining scope — [list Must Haves] — will deliver [core value statement] as planned on [date]."

Step 5 — Deferred Items Backlog

Create a holding list for deferred items with:

• Reason for deferral
• Target release
• Owner for follow-up

Output Format

1. Cut decision table
2. Items to keep vs cut vs escalate
3. Stakeholder communication statement
4. Deferred items backlog
5. Suggested next command: /status-update or /handle-delay